I Need You Afterall
by svurookie
Summary: In the episode Loss, Alex told Olivia she didnt need her place of refuge before or after the explosion, but was she telling the truth? Or just being stubborn? Minor AlexOlivia pairing. Please R&R. This is my first fanfic.


"Alex, why don't you stay with me tonight?" Olivia offered to her friend.  
"No, I'll be okay." Alex reluctantly declined. She looked up at Olivia, not wanting to make eye contact with her, and Olivia just stared at her friend, respecting her decision, but not liking it one bit.  
  
"Okay, let's do a quick drive-by to make sure nothing looks odd." Elliot said, opening the back door to the unmarked sedan. He wanted Alex to stay with Olivia so she'd be safe, but he knew there was no pushing Alex Cabot to do anything she didn't want to do, and standing around on a dark street corner in the middle of the night was not something he wanted to do. He wanted to get Alex and Olivia home safely, so he could then go home to his wife and children. He had this sudden urge to hug each of them and wrap his arms around Kathy and never let her go. The threat to Alex hit home especially hard with Elliot as he saw hte dangers in his job and how quickly he could be taken away from them all in the instant he pissed off the wrong perp.  
Alex and Olivia were walking towards the car when they were thrown to the ground by a massive explosion. With glass and rubble cutting their face and hands, the detective and the ADA turned around on the ground to see the remains of DEA Tim Donovan's car burning in a red ball of fire. Olivia's chest was heaving as she watched the sight in disbelief, not noticing that her hand was dripping with blood from glass that had entered her hand in the explosion. Olivia looked at Elliot who just stared at her in shock and then they both looked at Alex who was as pale as a ghost and trembling, blood dripping from scrapes on her face from being forced to the ground by the blast. Olivia took Alex's hand with her good hand and tried to comfort the obviously frightened ADA.  
  
The police arrived, as did the S.W.A.T team, bomb squad, detectives from IAB, and chief investigator on the Sandoval case, Agent Hammond.  
  
Alex was seated in the back of an ambulance trying to piece together what had just happened, but she couldn't comprehend any of it. Her mind and body were in a state of numbed shock. Olivia couldn't even get through to her.  
  
"Come on, let's get you out of here." Olivia said to Alex as she offered her a hand to help her out of the ambulance, but Alex just stared at the mess that used to be Tim Donovan's car. She said nothing.  
  
"Alex...you couldn't of done anything any differently. Donovan made a choice." Liv said trying to console her friend. Alex wasn't buying it, she just gave Olivia a dark stare that frightened Liv a little bit and Alex said, "We all did." Just then Agent Hammond pushed his way through the crowd and made his way to Alex.  
  
"How?" He asked, not expecting an answer, but felt he needed to ask anyways.  
"I--I don't know." Alex stammered.  
"You don't know?!" He shouted in disbelief at Alex. "Hey, back off." Olivia said in defense of her friend.  
"He had a wife and kids for god's sake did you know that?!" Hammond wouldn't back off, he blamed Alex for this whole thing. Elliot heard the commotion and came to the aid of his partner and the ADA.  
  
"That's enough.' Elliot said, holding back Hammond and going to Alex. "You need to get yourself off this case now."  
  
Hammond scoffed at the three of them. "I don't have a case...." He glared directly at Alex as if to send knives through her from his eyes, "It blew up with Tim Donovan!" And Hammond walked away as Alex watched him leave, taking all the guilt onto herself for what happened to Agent Donovan, and tears started welling up in her eyes. Olivia caught sight of them and knew she had to get Alex out of that mess.  
  
"Alex, come on, let's get out of here. There is no need for any of us to be here anymore, we all need to just go home. I really think you should come and stay with me." She saw Alex start to protest, so she emphasized, "JUST until tomorrow. You shouldnt be alone tonight, too much has happened."  
  
Alex appreciated Olivia's concern, and her heart begged her to say yes to her invitation, but her head strong personality and her 'I can take care of myself' attitude overpowered her and she respectfully declined her friend's offer. "Thanks for the offer, Detective, but I'll be fine. Would you and Elliot just drive me home, please?"  
  
Olivia sighed and nodded her head. "I'll go around and get the car." Elliot said to both of them, as Alex climbed out of the ambulance. Olivia nodded to him and he went to go retrieve the car.  
  
ALEX'S APARTMENT 12:05AM  
  
"Are you sure you don't want me to come up with you for a little while? I can always catch a cab home later?" Olivia asked in one last attempt to get Alex to give in and not be alone tonight, but it failed.  
  
"No, I'll be fine. I think I am going to go in, take a nice hot bath, and just try and get some sleep. But thanks for the kind offers, Olivia, I appreciate your concern."  
  
Olivia nodded her head, and said to her friend before she got out of the car, "Okay, but you have my number if you need anything. Even if it is at four in the morning, call me, okay?"  
  
Alex smiled. "Thanks." And she got out of the car. She leaned in the passenger's side window and said to Elliot, "Thanks for the ride, Detective."  
Elliot smiled back, "Flick your lights once when you get in so we know you're in safely."  
  
Alex nodded, "Goodnight." Elliot and Olivia said their goodnights and watched her enter into the front entrance of her building.  
  
"Why wouldnt she take my offer and stay with me?" Olivia asked rhetorically, but Elliot answered her.  
"Because she is a head strong stubborn woman...just like you."  
  
Olivia smirked at him. "I beg your pardon? I am NOT stubborn. And when someone offers me help, and I know I need it, I take it!"  
Elliot laughed. "Oh yeah right! If I remember correctly, when you were being stalked and threatened by that creep Plumber, you refused any help that was offered to you, and if I remember even MORE correctly, it almost cost us our partnership and our friendship because I knew you needed help and I got you the help I knew you needed."  
  
Olivia knew he was right, but didnt want to admit that he was to him, it would only inflate his ego. She saw Alex flick her lights, so she decided to use that as a distraction mechanism. "Look, Alex flicked her lights, she's in safe, can we go now?"  
  
Elliot grinned, basking in the silent glory of him being right, and just "Mmm-hmm'd" to Olivia and drove away.  
  
OLIVIA'S APARTMENT 12:20AM  
  
Elliot pulled up to Olivia's apartment and she got out and said she'd see him tomorrow. Just before she closed the door Elliot called to her.  
  
"Liv? Give Alex some time to come around. She'll open up to you when she needs you, just give her some time to REALIZE she needs you."  
  
Olivia nodded and smiled at him. "Just like you knew I needed you?" She said gently. "Just like that. If you thought she was in real danger right now, Olivia, you wouldnt be standing here, you'd be in her apartment keeping your eye on her. She'll come to you when she needs to, but right now, just let her be stubborn and see how far it gets her."  
  
Olivia smiled. She could always count on Elliot to say the right things at precisely the right time. "Thanks, El. I'll see ya tomorrow."  
  
"Okay, ah...hey...flick your lights when you get in so I know you got in okay."  
  
Olivia rolled her eyes and saluted him. "Aye, aye, Captain!" And she went inside. When she was in her apartment, she flicked her lights to let Elliot know she was inside safe, and she walked to the window to see him drive away. She got undressed,put on a black tank top and a pair of boxers. She laid her gun, handcuffs, badge, beeper and cell phone next to her bed. Not bothering to check her messages or take a shower, she just crawled beneath the cool satin sheets and drifted away to dreamland. She looked at the clock and saw that it said 12:35AM, and that was the last thing she remembered as her head hit the pillow and she was down for the count. 


End file.
